Sydney Art Deco Heritage

Southport is one of the oldest areas on the Gold Coast and as such has several beautiful Art Deco buildings built during the 1930's. A stroll down Nerang street reveals several excellent examples. The best of these is the old Town Hall located at 47 Nerang Street which is now the Council Chambers. Built in 1935 this important example of an Art Deco influenced building replaced the earlier timber Town Hall building on the site. It was designed by Hall and Phillips who designed many other Art Deco influenced buildings in south east Queensland. The Art Deco ornamentation both inside and out has survived making this a rare example of this style of public building. It has social significance as a centrally located civic building which has been open for public purposes for over sixty years. Detailed view of the central facade View of the original Art Deco leadlight windows Sources: Gold Coast Local Heritage Listings Your Brisbane - Past and Present

The Knickerbocker Hotel located in Bathurst at 110 William Street is a famous Bathurst interwar Functionalist hotel was built in 1938. The Knickerbocker hotel is listed in the RAIA Registry of Significant 20th Century Buildings. Another view of the hotel An interesting feature is the glass brick feature up the building stairwell which allows natural lighting of what would otherwise be a dark and dingy stairway to the second floor guest rooms. The use of glass bricks was a very common practice among architects of the time.

Although not a true carillon (there is no dynamic control over the striking of the bells - they are struck remotely with equal force) the Bathust carillon is counted as one of three carillons located in Australia. The others are in Canberra and the University of Sydney. It has 35 bells and was constructed in 1933 as a memorial to the men of Bathurst and District who served in World War One. Doors commemorating both World Wars provide entry to an interior featuring an eternal flame of remembrance. It was first played regularly by local piano techician, Hector Lupp, who was the official carillonist up until 1945. He also continued to maintain the mechanism for many years until his death in 1989. Bathust carillon base detail Top detail Sources: Register of War Memorials Hector Lupp - A Son of Bathurst Exhibition 2008-09 SYdney University Carillon

The Hotel Gearin at 1-1a Goldsmith Place (off Great Western Highway) in Katoomba was established in 1881 with additions being made in 1919 and 1927. It is a beautiful example of the interwar Art Deco period. Originally built by George Biles, the Hotel Gearin was bought and named in 1910 by one Mrs Gearin who operated it as a guest house for women. It is said her ghost still haunts the building. The centrepiece of the hotel is its classic Australian “Long Bar” of the period. The Hotel Gearin was bought by Australian actor Jack Thompson in 2006 and it was a popular live music venue. In 2011 Thompson decided to sell the Hotel Gearin because it wasn't becoming the social hub he imagined./p> Facade detail More facade detail In 2019 the hotel bars were closed, so it is no longer operating as a pub, but is still offering affordable short-term accommodation. Since the "Gearin Hotel" is no longer the local watering hole we are now calling it simply "The G...

The Malachi Gilmore Hall in Oberon Street in Oberon is a fine art deco building that was designed by Italian architect Virgil Cizzio (who changed his surname to Renshaw) and was opened in 1937. It was known as the Magna Theatre. A striking feature of the hall is the use of glass bricks. It was built on land donated to the Catholic church in memory of Malachi Gilmore who had come to Oberon in 1872 and owned land in Oberon and the Duckmaloi area. It was originally built as a dance hall cinema, seating 310 people but has also been a cabaret venue, a skating rink and is currently a wool store. The building was listed on the State Heritage Register in November 2003 and is also listed in the RAIA Register of significant 20th Century Buildings. Glass brick wall of the building First storey detail Sources: Oberon History Archive

The Theatre Royal at 667-669 Hunter Street in Newcastle is one of the few remaining 1930s cinemas in the Art Deco / Moderne style with the original interior features surviving in relatively good condition. The Theatre Royal has many key features and fixtures that exemplify the Art Deco / Moderne style and era, in particular its interior wall detailing and staircase railings. These can be appreciated in the photos below of the interior of the theatre. The unique pink interior of the upstairs lounge has survived remarably well for its age. The Theatre Royal is also the only remaining cinema in Australia designed by Charles Bohringer, a well-known practitioner of the Art Deco style. It was redesigned and rebuilt by Bohringer in the classic Art Deco style and re-opened to the public in 1939. Original stair railing still look fantastic such a long time. Unfortunately staircase can be the firt item to be ditched in a *modern* renovation. Sources: realc...

The Penthouse cinema is a gem of a building is located in the New Zealand city of Wellington at 205 Ohiro Road, Brooklyn and is a good example of a classic Art Deco style theatre from the 1930's. Constructed for the Ranish family the cinema opened its doors on 15th June 1939 as the Vogue Theatre. The Ranish family ran the cinema until 1951, when the Vogue Company Limited took over. The Vogue Company turned the cinema into a television studio where TV commercials were shot for many years. Renamed the Penthouse The building was renamed the Penthouse Cinema when it was bought by Merv and Carol Kisby in 1975. Since then additional screens have been added, as well as refurbishment of the interior in keeping with its original style. The classic Art Deco style has been recreated in the Penthouse foyer where, in particular, the staircase bannister is quite simple but exudes the charm of the style. View of the foyer *note the simple and elegant lines of the staircase going u...

This Art Deco building is used as a funeral home and is located at 37 Mann Street in Gosford. Funeral Directors R. H. Creighton built the Art Deco building in 1938 to a design in the Art Deco style by architect F. Vanderwyck Snr. The Creighton’s family business was known in the area since 1844 and was involved in building and demolition work before becoming funeral directors in 1872. Six generations of the Creighton family practiced locally under the business name. The existing building is mainly of cement-rendered brick, with foundations of local sandstone. Being constructed on a steep site the building diminishes quickly from the front facade. There are some interesting windows along this side of the building which sit on a prominant sandstone retaining wall which blends well with the rest of the building. The Creighton family has had associations with the Gosford district going back as far as 1844. Originally primarily employed as carpenters, the Creighton clan apparently move...

The Clarendon Hotel is located at 347 Hunter Street in Newcastle. It was purchased by Tooth & Company in September 1934 and sold in August 1985. On completion of rebuilding the Clarendon hotel in January 1943 the hotel was a three storeyed brick structure with a fully tiled ground floor exterior and an asbestos and malthoid roof. The architects were Pitt & Merewether and the style was known as Art Moderne or P & O Ship Style because of its similarities to ocean liner forms. The Australian National University has many interesting historical photos of Inter War hotels including the Clarendon hotel in the Noel Butlin Archives. Some low-res examples of these are displayed below. Sources: City of Sydney Heritage Listing

A stroll down Nerang Street in Southport reveals several beautiful Art Deco buildings. As one of the oldest suburbs on the Gold Coast in Queensland Southport has several excellent examples of Art Deco architecture. Continue down Nerang Street from the Town Hall and you will discover the Cecil B DeMilles Hotel on the corner of Scarborough Street. With its long open verandahs above the awnings and the imposing round Art Deco facade it occupies the corner site like a grand old Hollywood starlet. It is the oldest public house on the Gold Coast to maintain its original name throughout all its years of operation The new hotel replaced an ealier structure on the site and was designed by Addison and MacDonald. It opened in 1938. The exterior of the building included brown and cream tiles with Venetian red bricks cut through with cream bands. The roofing tiles were multi-coloured Marseilles tiles. The interior decoration of the hotel was in red, green and autumnal tones and featured poli...

Although a long way from Sydney I thought I would include this building in China. The Bank of China building in Shanghai in the French Concession area is a great example of Art Deco styling adapted for use on a modern building. The imaginative blending of modern glass and building materials with classic Art Deco styling has been achieved with great success. The soaring vertical lines give the building a monumental feel while the detail in the facade and lamps is straight out of the 1930s. Facade detail More facade detail The light fixtures are wonderful examples of modern interpretations of style of the 1930's.

Located in Herd Street, Wellington, on the waterfront next to Waitangi Park, Chaffers Dock (the former Post and Telegraph building) is a majestic example of Art Deco architecture. The original building was designed by the architect Edmund Anscombe and finished in 1939. Postal services finished in the late 1980's and the current Chaffers Dock building was redeveloped into a mix of apartments, restaurants and shops. The imposing Chaffers Dock corner facade has been retained however the unsympathetic treatment of the waterfront side of the building leaves much to be desired. Chaffer's Dock main facade Main corner entrance Imposing corner facade Sources: Chaffers Dock website

There are five buildings that make up the complex still popularly known as James Smith's. The main corner building was designed by architects Penty and Blake, and was constructed in 1907 for George Winder, an ironmonger and importer who had owned the land since 1898. The location was formally known as "Winder's Corner". James Smith purchased the site in 1921 and, in 1932, architects King and Dawson supervised a complete refurbishment of the building, including a new facade. The heavy Edwardian character of the original building can still be guessed at in the arrangement of windows, particularly in the paired round-headed windows of the top (fourth) floor. Otherwise the style is now Art Deco, with emphatic vertical piers, stepped skyline, fluted frieze at parapet level, and typical 1930s lettering that runs vertically down the central column on the Cuba Street/Manners Street corner. This character follows through into the interior spaces. A picture of an interi...

St Paul's Anglican Catherdral on the corner of Molesworth and Hill Streets in Wellington, New Zealand, was designed by Cecil Wood, appointed by the Wellington Diocese as the architect of the new cathedral in 1938. Cecil Wood died in 1947 and though he never lived to see the Cathedral so much as begun, the building today is still very much as he envisaged it. The first stage of the new Cathedral, finished in 1964, was considerably shorter than its present exterior length of 88 metres. 1998 saw the dedication of the completed Cathedral by Bishop Thomas John Brown, 10th Bishop of Wellington, on May 31st. In 2001 the Cathedral was consecrated on the 15th of October by Bishop Thomas Brown, 10th Bishop of Wellington. On the 24th of February 2002 Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, unveiled the Consecration stone, her planned visit in October 2001 having been postponed because of security concerns after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Sources: Wellington Cathedral webs...

The Hotel St George, situated at 124 Willis Street, is one of several outstanding examples of the Art Deco style located in Wellington. In the 1850s the Union Bank of Australia built a branch here. In 1877 the bank building was bought by the famous early settler and businessman John Plimmer who converted it into one of Wellington’s most celebrated hotels. On the facade were the carved impressions, in timber, of the faces of prominent Wellingtonians of the time, including Plimmer himself. In 1929 the property was bought by the Grand Central Buildings Ltd who demolished the hotel. The hotel was designed by William Prouse and its vertical proportions enhance its townscape significance. The Hotel St George opened in December 1930 to considerable fanfare. THe photo on the right shows the hotel not long after it opened. It operated as a hotel for the following 65 years, although it was seconded for use as a base by American marines during World War II. Probably its most famous gues...

Located at 191 Cuba Street on the corner Vivian Street in Wellington, New Zealand, Reid House was designed in 1930 by the Wellington architectural firm Atkins and Mitchell and built for the draper, D.S. Patrick. The contractor was Fletcher Construction Co. The corner was named Patrick's Corner, and the original proprietor, Patrick, had traded on the site since 1910. This three storey-building makes excellent use of its corner site, with five distinct portions folding around the triangular site. It is not symmetrical either, with two bays of Spanish Mission style on Cuba Street a contrast with the busy Art Deco decoration on the other four sides. Reid House itself is remembered by many Wellingtonians as a music venue, particularly the Bluenote. These days the property is home to Bad Grannies pub, takeaway food vendors and two and a half floors of refurbished office space upstairs. The building was up for sale in 2016 but wasn't sold until 2019 when it went for $5 million...

The developer, Colonial, has requested permission from the minister for planning to remove the heritage overlay which would allow complete demolition of one of Victoria’s most significant Art Deco heritage buildings, Lonsdale House. Melbourne risks going down the path Sydney has adopted in the past of sacrificing culturally significant buildings to the developers and leaving the city with no soul. Despite appeals by the National Trust and the Art Deco Society, Heritage Victoria has sternly refused to protect this significant building and the Lonsdale Street and Caledonian Lane streetscapes for future generations. **** UPDATE **** On January 15th 2010 demolition of Lonsdale House had commenced. A sad day for Melbourne and for Art Deco heritage in general.

Here are a couple of examples of modern Art Deco styling I saw in Chicago. Click on the image for a full resolution view. 1) Harpo Productions building - 1025W Randolph St Chicago Home of the Oprah Winfrey show. I discovered this quite by accident as I was looking for the Museum of Holography which is in the vicinity. The museum was closed but finding this building made the journey out of the city worthwhile. 2) Large Wall Sconces - 77 W Wacker St, Chicago. Nice modern Art Deco styling.